Peace and human rights offices

At the sub-national level, mainly by virtue of the inclusion of the norm “peace human rights” in thousands of municipal, provincial and regional statutes and the adoption of special regional laws on the subject, there are in Italy councils, departments, offices and centers that carry out activities on the ground to promote human rights, peace, equal opportunities, development cooperation, fair trade and international solidarity.

Ombudsman 

The Ombudsman qualifies as a guarantee body in the function of protecting the rights of the individual in cases of inefficiencies, delays, inefficiencies of the Public Administration and managers of public services, with a view to ensuring and promoting through moral suasion, the good performance and impartiality of administrative action, according to the principles of legality, transparency, efficiency, effectiveness and fairness (Art. 97 Const.).

Unlike almost all European countries, Italy has never passed a law establishing a national ombudsman (the so-called Ombudsman, following the model of Northern European countries). The Italian Ombudsman, in fact, finds a configuration exclusively at the regional and Autonomous Provinces level, and is marked by a certain unevenness.

There is a National Coordination of the Ombudsmen of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano, which works for the concertation and enhancement of the institutional role of Ombudsman Defense in Italy, putting in place an activity of comparison and sharing of best practices, as well as promoting initiatives, also in collaboration with other institutional entities, aimed at the dissemination of its expertise, with reference to specific issues.

National Conference for the Guarantee of the Rights of Children and Adolescents

The national legislature established the National Conference for the Guarantee of the Rights of Children and Adolescents composed of the Regional and Autonomous Provincial Guarantors established in Italy to promote and protect the rights of minors in their respective areas of responsibility. The Conference, which is chaired by the National Guarantor for Children and Adolescents, has the task of adopting common lines of action, as well as ensuring cooperation among guarantors through the exchange of data and information on the condition of minors of age at both the national and regional levels.

Conference of Territorial Guarantors of Persons Deprived of Liberty

Since 2008, a National Coordination was created to bring together the many independent authorities that regions, provinces, and municipalities located in correctional institutions had created in previous years to carry out work both in monitoring places of deprivation of liberty and in civic advocacy for the people confined there. As of 2018, the Coordination took the name Conference of Territorial Guarantors of Persons Deprived of Liberty. It is attended by the National Guarantor Authority, whose function is to promote and foster cooperative relations among them.

National Coordination of Local Authorities for Peace and Human Rights

Founded on October 12, 1986, the National Coordination of Local Authorities for Peace and Human Rights is the largest Italian network of municipalities, provinces and regions committed to peacebuilding and the affirmation of human rights. The Coordination carries out its efforts to support the dissemination of education for human rights, citizenship and peace, in collaboration with the Peace Table and the national network of Schools for Peace. Of particular importance among the activities developed by the Coordination is the organization, together with the Peace Table, of the Perugia-Assisi Peace March.

Regional projects for the promotion of the culture of peace and human rights

Projects established by regions and autonomous provinces for the purpose of fostering the promotion and dissemination of the culture of human rights and peace are active in Italy:

• The Emilia-Romagna Region's “Peace and Human Rights” project was initiated by the Regional Council in collaboration with the Department of Social Policies, Immigration, Youth Project, International Cooperation and the Management Control and Statistical Systems Service of the Regional Council. The project, which has been managed since 2013 by the Europe Direct Center of the Emilia-Romagna Legislative Assembly, is inspired by the contents of Regional Law No. 12 of June 24, 2002 (Regional interventions for cooperation with developing countries and countries in transition, international solidarity and the promotion of a culture of peace) and is aimed at supporting the activities described in the law.                                                 
• The Forum “Trentino for Peace and Human Rights”, a permanent body, was established in 1991 at the behest of the Provincial Council of Trento by Provincial Law No. 11 of June 10, 1991 (Promotion and dissemination of the culture of peace). It carries out numerous activities each year, including public initiatives, support actions, advice and proposals to provincial and municipal institutions in the area, theater reviews and exhibitions.                                                                                                       
• The Peace and Human Rights Archive of the Veneto Region was established by Regional Law 18/1988 and reconfirmed by subsequent Regional Law 55/1999. It is managed by the Human Rights Center of the University of Padua. It is one of the main instruments through which the Region has concretely developed over time its commitment to promoting the culture of human rights, peace, development cooperation and solidarity in the Veneto, Italy and abroad. It has the functions of collecting, processing and publishing documents, databases and information resources on human rights issues, in particular through the updating of the portal “Peace Archives Human Rights” (hosted at this site in Italian and English), and the dissemination of human rights knowledge through multimedia tools and social networks, volumes, teaching aids and in-depth thematic dossiers. The Archives provides technical and scientific support to those most immediately interested in the promotion and practice of the culture of peace and human rights.